Someone
recently showed me a clip of a very famous and influential politician shmoozing
with school children for over 30 minutes.
We always see the 10 second chit chats and photo ops, but to see such a
figure really sit down and hear these little kids ask him question after
question, had me in a bit of awe. This
man seemed to really care; he seemed to really value the children, beyond their
vote ten years down the line.
L’havdil
elef havdolos we saw
this with the Rebbe (and he didn’t need the votes). That was actually what came to my mind right
away. This politician reminded me what
my Rebbe was like - on an obviously much larger scale.
The Rebbe,
as far as I know, was the only gadol (maybe in history – although
Mordechai Hatzadik did gather the children on one occasion) that had numerous
set times throughout the year where he would come out and spent hours with the
children. It was uniquely for them. You would see how the Rebbe kvelled in
his every moment that he spent with his children. I’m sure the kids felt like a million
bucks.
This is a true
example of an educator par excellence.
The
Rebbe’s time was precious. But Lag Ba’omer
was one of those times where the Rebbe was there with the children.
Watch
these two videos
You
see the Rebbe talk to the children for over 50 minutes! He then watches them parade - he was there.
How
often do I feel that there are much bigger issues to deal with then listening
to our little ones, and playing with them?
I mean 5 minutes is enough…
The
Rebbe taught me otherwise.
